Tree-planting Takes An Unexpected Twist

The Little Senator Died, So A Backup Sapling Saved The Day - And Made A Good Appearance.

February 16, 2000|By Robert Perez of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD - The star of the show wasn't at the city's Arbor Day event. Every attempt to bring him there failed. What's more, each attempt had ended in death.

But not to worry; the understudy was ready to step up and be planted.

Plans to plant a clone of The Senator, Seminole County's giant bald cypress, wilted when cuttings from the 3,500-year-old tree failed to take root. Sanford's landscape architect Howard Jeffries had a name already picked out - The Little Senator.

But Monday's ceremony at George Touhy Park went off as planned with the next-best thing - a successful genetic twin of a champion dahoon holly. The 3-foot sapling was cloned from a national co-champion dahoon holly in Fort Pierce. If the young tree grows up just like its much bigger twin, it could reach 40 feet in height and 55 inches in circumference.

``We were going to be planting an offspring of our Senator,'' Jeffries said. ``But we had what they call in the business a crop failure. Hopefully, next year we'll have a Little Senator to plant.''

Arborists with the Champion Tree Project International want to create a genetic replica of The Senator, which has been identified as the largest bald cypress in the world. Despite taking several cuttings from the massive tree, however, few took root and all died, Jeffries said.

The Senator was named after Moses O. Overstreet, a state senator who owned the land around the cypress. In 1927, Overstreet donated the property surrounding the tree, which now is Longwood's Big Tree Park.

The setting for Monday's planting was Sanford's tree version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The new dahoon holly joins 80 or so ``famous trees'' in the park at 601 S. Elm St.

Since 1992, the offspring of famous trees have been planted in two city parks - first Fort Mellon and then George Touhy. The eclectic collection includes a Jimmy Carter slash pine, an Edgar Allen Poe hackberry and something called a moon sycamore.

Jeffries said the 8-foot tree was grown from sycamore seeds that went to the moon and back on one of the last Apollo missions.